56 
THE ANKER VALLEY AND ITS FLORA. 
On the banks of this river, too, at Atherstone, Nehemiah 
Grew was bom and buried, bis father having been vicar of 
the church there. He was secretary for many years of the 
Royal Society, and was, if not the first, one of the first 
botanists who gave attention to the anatomy of plants. His 
work, “Anatome Vegetabilium,” which is illustrated by many 
plates, is a living monument to his fame. 
The district is intersected by the Trent Valley, Leicester, 
Asliby-de-la-Zouch, and Coventry Railways, and by the 
Coventry and Ashby-de-la-Zoucli Canals, both of which yield 
an interesting and characteristic flora. 
With regard to the physical geography and geology of 
the district I can say little. The district is generally flat, 
but on the west side, about Hartsliill and Oldbury, the 
country becomes elevated, the highest point being Oldbury 
Fort, where we have an elevation of about 500 feet above sea 
level. And anyone standing here will be rewarded, if the 
day be clear, with a very beautiful outlook. If he stands 
looking towards Leicestershire, on his right will be the exten¬ 
sive wood called Hartsliill Hayes, and peeping over that he 
will see the steeple of the small church at Hartsliill. In the 
valley below lies Mancetter (the Manduessedum of ancient 
days), and its quaint-looking square-towered church, that 
looks like a remain from the remote past; close by, the 
trim, modern, brand-new-looking Wetlierley church, and in 
the valley the silver streak that indicates the bed of Drayton’s 
“ crystal stream.” On the right lie the woodlands of Ather¬ 
stone and Merivale, and standing on the Watling Street, the 
old-fashioned town of Atherstone ; and right before him a 
wide stretch of land, fertile and sylvan, with numerous little 
villages and equally numerous churches dotted here and there 
throughout the stretch, the churches of Seckington and 
Austrey being most prominent; and away out in the distance 
lie the Alps of that district—Bardon Hill; and looking over 
this beautiful scene, with its woods and copses so frequently 
interspersed, one cannot hut feel some sympathy with old 
Drayton, and concede that his Tempe, although it may not 
vie with the Thessalian valley, is a fair one, and one might for 
the time forget how the wcrld has changed since Drayton’s 
time, were it not that away out in that flat Leicestershire 
valley he sees in the dim distance a little silver-like puff of 
steam, which, owing to the distance comprehended in the 
view, travels on slowly nearer and nearer until at last he is 
able to make out all the details of the railway train, bearing 
its freight of human beings or mineral wealth ; and he is 
suddenly called home to the fact that the world has wagged 
on, and that he is living in an age of improvements not even 
dreamt of in Drayton's days. 
